


And We Can Make it Last Forever

by badwolfgay, dittyel



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Angst with a Happy Ending, ElevenRose, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reunion Fic, Timepetals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27125254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfgay/pseuds/badwolfgay, https://archiveofourown.org/users/dittyel/pseuds/dittyel
Summary: After losing the Ponds, the Doctor finds himself in a strange situation: he meets someone who looks exactly like Rose Tyler, the woman he once loved, but who now has no idea who he is.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler
Comments: 16
Kudos: 30





	And We Can Make it Last Forever

6 months, 4 days, 2 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds since it happened.

6 months, 4 days, 2 hours, 26 minutes and 54 seconds since the Doctor lost them. 

Being a Time Lord came with many burdens. He knew it from the beginning. Right now though, what hurt the most, was being _aware_ of time. Being so aware of it all the time. Knowing how many seconds, minutes, hours, days and months he wouldn’t and couldn’t spend with them. The Doctor knew Amy Pond, _his_ Amelia Pond, for more than 300 years. He tried to keep a long time between their trips so he could keep her for longer. But in the end, it didn’t matter. No matter how much time they had together, it would never be forever. It would never matter. Amy and Rory were human.

Simply, wonderfully, _human._ The species that he fell in love with, and the species that kept breaking his hearts. 

It would be so easy to give up. Why keep saving people? Why keep getting attached? Why hurt himself like this? 

He tried to give up on his adventures for a bit, but it didn't last long. It only took 5 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes and 46 seconds until he decided to step out of the TARDIS again. Once he did, it was impossible to not get into trouble, of course. She wouldn’t let him have peace. He felt grateful for that, in the end. It was easier to escape his thoughts when there was an alien right behind him trying to kill him.

Easier, of course, but it never really disappeared. Every little thing reminded him of the Ponds. Even the TARDIS was painful to look at for some time. The Doctor would never forget the day he saw her looking how it was for the first time, right after meeting Amy and Rory. The next thing he knew, the TARDIS had changed herself entirely, adopting a more cold, bluish, and futuristic look. _Very appropriate_ , he thought. 

_Oh,_ _I’m doing it again. Thinking too much._

Once again, the Doctor decided to escape his thoughts by going on another adventure. _A little adrenaline could help a little,_ he lied to himself.

Without putting much thought into it, he moved around the TARDIS console, pressing buttons and flicking switches. Ever since he lost them, the destination of his trips had seemed to stop mattering too. Not that he cared too much about it in the first place, but it just became harder to care now.

 _I can never really stop thinking about them,_ the Doctor thought to the TARDIS. _Just bring me somewhere nice._

He felt the TARDIS dematerialize and enter the Vortex, felt the occasional jerk and gripped the console tighter. 1 minute and 13 seconds until he felt the hard landing of the ship, almost sending him backwards onto the grating. _Must’ve been feeling a little indecisive today,_ he mused. 

He didn’t leave his place at the console right away though, the Doctor had stopped leaving immediately after landing for some time now. Before, he’d be running towards the doors even before she landed, trying his hardest to ignore the empty spaces at his side as he stepped out. But as the months went on, he slowly started to spend more time hanging around the console, just him alone in a room that suddenly felt all too large for him on his own. 

12 minutes and 9 seconds more until he stepped out of the TARDIS, sonic screwdriver in his pocket, feeling more numb than he knew possible. 

He took a moment to analyze where he was. An empty street on a cold night. It was all dark, with only some light poles producing an amber glow to show the path. He felt like a ghost, breathing the air of somewhere unknown, but deep down, living in the past. The Doctor didn’t recognize the place, but he supposed that would have to change soon, as he was looking for some trouble sooner rather than later.

He stood on the street for a moment, wishing for something to happen and change his situation.

And then, it happened.

A woman entered the street running fast, being followed by some sort of bronze robot, who was almost the size of a human being.

_Well, something is happening._

It took him a moment to follow them, spending a brief moment questioning himself on why he was doing it. He ignored the thought and decided to try to save the woman anyway.

“Hey, look at me!” he yelled, distracting the robot, making it turn it’s head to see who was talking, “Bet you want to catch me instead of her now. Don’t you?” 

He snuck a glance at the woman, barely catching a glimpse of her blonde hair before she was obscured by the robot. The robot who was now advancing _towards him_. The Doctor’s eyes widened and he quickly spun around and started running. He could hear the woman yelling after them, her voice almost sounding familiar, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it as he felt the robot swing a metallic arm near his head. He turned his head and just barely managed to duck before it swung again. 

He wasn’t so lucky though, as he tripped over his own feet and landed on the concrete. 

The Doctor stared up at the robot, hovering menacingly over him as it slowly brought its arm up. He saw a flicker of electricity coming from the end of it and scrambled to get his sonic screwdriver from out of his pocket. He finally managed to get it out and on the correct setting just before the robot struck. He pointed his screwdriver towards it and pressed the button, causing the robot to immediately go into shut down mode. The Doctor sighed with relief as the robot came to a full stop, now pathetically hovering over him. He fell back onto the ground and smiled, satisfied with this little moment of victory. It didn't solve any of his problems, of course, but it was good to feel in control of a situation again. 

"Who are you?" came a shaky voice, the woman’s voice. "How- how did you do that?" 

"I'm the Doctor," he replied with his eyes closed, “And I simply used _this_ handy little tool of mine,” he lazily lifted up the screwdriver, “A sonic screwdriver.” 

"Doctor _who?_ " his hearts started racing as he finally recognized the voice. He could never forget the way _she_ said his name. 

He hastily stood up to better analyze the woman, trying his best to keep a neutral expression, even if he knew it would be impossible with her there. She looked almost the same as she did when he last saw her. A little bit older, but she had the same strong jaw, the same full lips, and the same blonde hair. But her eyes looked different, they were a shade of gold instead of the usual hazel he remembered. He felt even more confused. How come she didn't she know him? The Doctor had a different face now, sure, but he said his name and she didn't recognize it. Here he was, dropped off on some planet by his elusive ship with a Rose Tyler who didn't know who he was. Might just be Satan punishing him for the little fight they had some centuries ago.

"Just the Doctor. Well, Rose Tyler, you clearly don't need me anymore as I’ve already saved you from that, robot, over there," he eyed the robot still hanging in place, purposefully ignoring the confused look Rose gave him. "So, I should be leaving."

"Oh, no! You are _not_ going," she grabbed his arm as he tried to leave, and for a moment he could see the fear in her eyes, and it hurt terribly. He didn't even _know_ if this was Rose or not, but seeing her face yet again was doing things to him. "How do you know my name?" 

"Is your name actually Rose?" he asked, giving her that charming smile he used when he wanted to change the subject. Rose hesitantly nodded, "That's a beautiful name. _Rose Tyler_. Just rolls off the tongue. Good choice. Really, if I could choose my name again, I might have used that," he considered the possibility for a few seconds. It would’ve made things as his ninth and tenth selves quite awkward, the Doctor realized. "You know what? Forget it. It doesn't suit me well. Still a good name though! You should be proud of it." Her expression softened a little, as if the momentary confusion his speech caused made her forget the fear.

He took her silence as an advantage and took her hand off his arm and walked past her. Admittedly, not his proudest moment. But seeing Rose again, not knowing who he is, in one of his weakest moments was not something that he desired. Hoping she wouldn't follow him, he went into the TARDIS and dropped to his knees on the grating.

_This was confusing._

The Doctor held his head in his hands for a few moments before lifting his head towards the console, seeing the security footage on one of the screens. Rose was still outside, just staring at the TARDIS with a look of pure confusion on her face. The way she kept rocking back and forth signaling that she was considering following him into the strange blue box that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the street. Rose stood there for a few more seconds before making up her mind and turning around, walking home presumably, but not without taking one more cautious glance back at the ship. 

The Doctor watched her walk until she was out of frame, only then releasing a shaky breath, bringing a hand up to his face and registering the tears that had been silently flowing down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe what he had just experienced. Had he really just saved _Rose Tyler_ from a robot? How was she even here, on this planet? Wasn’t she in an alternate universe with- 

_Wait,_ he scrunched his face with confusion, _What planet am I even on?_

With the question on his mind he stood up and refocused his attention onto another screen, finding the words _Gurê Xirab_ flashing on and off. _Well that’s odd._ The TARDIS should’ve been translating it for him, but she wasn’t. The Doctor pressed a few buttons in the hope that it was simply a glitch, and was disappointed to find that it wasn’t. So the TARDIS had decided to throw him down onto this planet and was now refusing to translate for him. 

_The audacity,_ he thought, frustrated and confused. 

The Doctor was at a standstill for what to do now. He could either walk away from this - the planet, Rose - or he could stay and find out more about this planet’s Rose, specifically, why she’s even here in the first place. He stood there for 13 minutes and 28 seconds trying to decide between the two options, weighing the pros and cons for both. 

_If I leave I won’t have to see her face and be reminded of the heartbreak, but I won’t find out why she’s here. And if I stay_ _I could figure out what that robot was and why it was chasing her, but I could run the risk of ruining her life. And I’ve already done that once…_

He finally came to a decision. _It’d be better for all of us if I just left,_ he thought sadly. Trying to muster as much confidence as he could, the Doctor pressed a few buttons and threw a switch expecting the TARDIS to take off. She didn’t. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, she simply gave him a stubborn hum in response. “We’re leaving and that’s final.” He tried the controls again and grew more frustrated when she still refused to move. With an offended yell he threw his arms up, neither giving in nor trying for his way again. “I’m not dealing with this right now. If you still want to stay tomorrow, fine, we can stay. But I really hope you come to your senses and let me leave, because how could _anything_ good come from me staying right now?” the TARDIS gave a satisfied hum as the Doctor made his way to his room to get some sleep, to which he scoffed in reply. 

The Doctor going to sleep was a good thing, for both her and him. It had been 2 weeks and 6 days since the Doctor had last gotten actual rest, so some sleep will be sure to do him good. Especially after the confusing encounter he just had. And as for the TARDIS, she gets a break from him and his sulking, even if for a few hours.

* * *

Rose Tyler, if anything, was a smart person. She built her way to the top, charmed her clients and made a small fortune inventing things. She had a knack for understanding people and machines, and Rose always caught onto things quickly.

Today was very much testing this. 

She went out that night for a walk after finishing a particularly stressful project, not paying much attention to her surroundings. About 10 minutes in she started to see something in the corner of her eye. She looked from side to side, trying to confirm her suspicions but found nothing. She didn’t think too much of it at first, simply thinking it was her stressed imagination playing tricks on her. But Rose soon realized that she was being followed by some sort of robot, the kind she had never seen before. She made a run for it, running as fast as her feet would go, running until Rose arrived at the street where that mysterious man had saved her.

Saying that the encounter left her confused was an understatement. 

As she made her way to her house, gaining more and more distance between her and that strange blue box, Rose asked herself, _What did it all mean?_ A dozen questions had simultaneously popped into her head. 

_Who was that man? What kind of robot was that? I’ve never seen anything like it before. Was it just going after anyone it saw? Am I still in danger? How did the Doctor, as he liked to call himself, know my name?_

She started to feel the wind pick up as she came into sight of her house about a block away. Feeling a particularly strong breeze attack her, she started to jog the rest of the way home.

Almost all of the lights were off when she arrived home. Only the living room had the lights on, so she could see her mother, Jackie Tyler, drinking tea on the sofa. She entered the house with a tired sigh, and set her bag down and took her jacket off. She stood in the doorway with her eyes closed for a few moments before joining her mum on the sofa and resting her head on her shoulder, feeling her mother’s eyes watching her with every move.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Jackie asked, eyeing her daughter with worry, “You look like someone died. Did something happen?”

Rose pondered her question for a moment, unsure of what to say. Yes, something had happened, but she didn’t know how to explain it to her yet. It was all so confusing for her right now, and she didn’t want to worry her mum even more than she already was. Mainly because Rose didn’t even _know_ if she should be worrying about it herself.

“I’m fine,” she answered after a moment, lifting her head slightly to give Jackie a weak smile, “Just a bit tired because of work and all. I’m having some difficulty solving this problem right now, but I’ll try to get it fixed tomorrow.”

Jackie seemed calmed by Rose’s words, giving her a nod in return and going back to drinking her tea. She went to sleep not long after, giving Rose a kiss on her forehead as she got up, telling her to turn the lights off before she went to bed.

Once she was left alone in the room, with just the sounds of the wind howling outside - _Almost wolf-like_ \- to keep her company, Rose had made a decision. She was going to find this Doctor and discover what exactly was going on with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! We're both really excited to share this fic with you guys. It's been so fun to brainstorm and write it together, and we hope y'all enjoy it!
> 
> As of right now we have no set posting schedule, we're just writing and posting as we go along. So please keep an eye out for when we post new chapters. 
> 
> Come follow us on our socials!
> 
> dittyel - Twitter: @medyorosas Tumblr: @sapphicmirasol
> 
> badwolfgay - Twitter: @timepetals Tumblr: @wlwsunflower


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